Circle of Life
by Little Liger
Summary: Ever write down the fics that come to your mind while you're trying to get to sleep? This is one of those. A Dragon Ball Z fic based on The Lion King.
1. Prologue

Good day to all! This was something I just thought I would try. I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Do you really think I would have written this if I owned DBZ?

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Today seemed like an ordinary day within the Ox Kingdom. The sun rose from the East as it usually does, and some peasants were up and working for the time being. Small children ran along the streets and played as they do from time to time, while their older siblings worked in the fields. However, despite all of this, today was anything but a normal day.

Within the castle, the royal medics had just dispersed from the bed where a young woman was currently resting. She had a bundle of blankets and something wriggling within her arms. A man entered the room then; walking silently over to the bedside where the woman lay, her breathing and the baby's cooing the only sounds in the room. The man looked softly at the young baby's face, a warm smile gracing his features as he looked upon his newborn son with pride.

--

Horns broke the morning silence with a joyous fanfare. Several children had stopped their play and flocked to the gates of the castle where the noise sounded from. Slow but sure, other people began to flock and gather around the gates of the castle, anxiously awaiting what their great king wanted to say. As they looked up towards the large balcony, the king had arrived; beside him his beautiful wife stood and beside her was an older man with a bald head and a white beard.

The royal pair looked from the old man to the people gathered at the gates and smiled. The woman handed the older man their bundle of joy who then turned to face the people, speaking with a powerful voice to them:  
"Welcome to the world, heir to the Ox Kingdom throne, the son of King Goku and Queen Chichi: Gohan!"

He thrust the baby out into the air so the peasants could gaze upon him. The baby boy was milky white like his mother but had his father's large eyes. The kingdom bellowed 'roared' in zealous praise to their future king. The day was sure to be a momentous one.

--

As the crowd dispersed and Gohan was returned to his mother's loving arms, another man appeared behind them, bowing in both apology and respect.

"I apologize for my tardiness, my liege; however my daughter was causing trouble and well…"

"Quiet…" Goku looked at him, motioning for the man to rise. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

The man nodded and dashed off; making sure to close the door behind him. "Oh, Hercule…" the man sighed.

"Goku I just realized the Vegeta hadn't been present for today's ceremony. Where do you think he could have been?" Chichi looked up at him from her playing with the young Gohan.

Goku shook his head, "I don't know, but I'm about to go find out"

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Short, I know. But that's cause it's the prologue. More to come so please review and tell me what you thought! Lion-Gohan shaped cookies for all reviewers.


	2. Brief Meeting

Short, short chapter. I probably should have done this with the last chapter but it wouldn't have felt right so I decided to do it here. Next chapter will be longer and better... I promise.

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His room was mostly silent this morning. The only sound was his soft breathing as he lowered his body to the ground once more in the form of a push up. As his body lifted itself once more a knock sounded on the door. He looked up and smirked, recognizing that knock as his older brother. And, Vegeta noted, it sounded quite angry. He stood up and grabbed for the towel on his bed, wiping his sweaty face before answering the door to a rather angry Goku. This would be fun.

"Oh, why hello dear brother!" Vegeta spat, "What brings you to _my_ side of the castle this fine morning?"

Both brothers locked each others' eyes with a steely gaze that would have made a normal man cower in fear. "Where were you before?"

"What do you mean? Why, I was in my room all this morning doing the usual of course. What about you?"

"The arrival of the next king was this morning…" Goku spat, "and you missed it." Vegeta put on a look of mock shock as he watched his older brother warily. Whenever things didn't go his way, the young king tended to get a bit feisty. The younger brother could hear a growl rising in Goku's throat.

"Oh…" Vegeta started bowing half-heartedly, "I'm so, so, so, so sorry brother! If I had known…" Goku rolled his eyes, "Then I would have been the first one there. I would have kissed the little bundle and held him almost as dearly as the Queen herself." The King watched his brother warily as he 'apologized'.

"If that's the truth then I shall bring him here so you can see him."

Vegeta shook his head, "Unfortunately I have very important business today with an out-of-town noble. Perhaps later. By the way, what is the little ingrate's name?"

"My son's name is Gohan; we had settled on the name a while ago." Vegeta huffed, brushing by Goku without another word.

The young King groaned, _this_ was going to be an interesting day.

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That's it. Introduced a new character into the scene so the story can unfold a bit quicker now. Next chapter takes place a few years later. I'll update soon so for now: thanks for reading now please leave me a sweet review.


	3. Good Morning Sire

Alright, now this is more like it. Length-wise this is almost perfect although I was going for something a bit longer. I ran into a bit of a problem that you might have figured out by the end of the chapter. If not, that's okay because I'll tell you at the end. Anyways, here's the next chapter so enjoy!

Disclaimer: LLS has nor ever will own the rights to DBZ. We can only claim the idea for this fanfiction.

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Several years later…

The young prince was dashing through the halls of the large castle towards his parent's quarters. He had awoken earlier than normal for today was special for him. Today his father was going to show him something very special, something he had wanted to see since he was a baby. Gohan stopped at the door and took a minute to straighten his clothes and hat, which was falling into his eyes. The young prince wore a plain white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders and green pants beneath a long yellow and green outfit. His hat, which was larger than the poor boys head, was red in color with yellow lining. After finishing that up he reached up for and gripped the knob tightly before turning it and entering the still dark room.

There, on the other side of the room were two large lumps still locked in sleeps sweet embrace. The young prince tiptoed his way over to them without a sound. As he reached the bedside he lifted himself up to appear beside his father, the King, and poked his cheek. No response. He tried once more and still nothing. This time Gohan stood up, leaping forward and slamming into his father's stomach with his small fists, effectively waking the King up.

"Daaaad." The boy started.

"What?" came the muffled reply.

"C'mon daddy! You promised!" Gohan hit his father's large, muscular arm with his smaller, weaker ones.

A growl sounded as Goku began to rise, "Alright then, you win. I'm up… now give me a minute to get dressed." Gohan nodded and was out the same door he entered in a flash. The King gave a hearty laugh, _"He'll make a great king someday." _He thought as he pulled an orange tunic over the blue one he wore to bed. On the tunic was a symbol, the royal symbol of his family which had served as Kings and Queens for many generations. Goku smiled, _"yes… an amazing king."_

--

Outside, Gohan sat patiently beside the door and leapt excitedly to his feet when it finally did open.

"Ready?" The king received a nod in response and walked towards a door that led out onto the balcony where Gohan had been presented four years ago. A warm smile graced the man's face while his son looked out on the horizon to what he would someday rule.

"Woooooow…" said the awe-filled child, gaping much like a fish at the sight before him.

Below was the castle town that surrounded them, following that was the bit of plains and nature filled areas of the Ox Kingdom. From his spot, Gohan could see other smaller settlements where people would live if they preferred it to living in the town. Off in the far distance though, his eyes picked up something that didn't quite look right. He squinted and leaned forward slightly, his father watching him with curiosity in his large onyx eyes.

"What's all of that over there daddy?" He said pointing to a shadow covered hill. The young prince looked up at his father to see a darkened face.

"That's nothing…" Goku replied, "Nothing you need to worry about, son. You'll figure it out when you're older."

Goku then picked his son up and placed him on his shoulders. "How's about we go for a little walk?" Gohan nodded, eyes continuing to linger on the shadowy spot.

--

The castle town was all abuzz as people worked and tried to make a living. Gohan noted with interest that these people had a much harder life than he, and vowed one day to try and fix that problem. His father had said that these people were just unlucky and he himself had tried to help.

"So then, why does everyone seem so happy, father?" the young boy asked.

"They have a good life. It's work-filled and sometimes hard, but they get protection from our guards and taxes are low. They keep a lot of what they make these days." Goku had a warm smile on his face as he said this.

Gohan continued to watch the people in their everyday lives. Occasionally people would stop what they were doing to bow, recognizing their King, before returning to their duties. His dad, Gohan guessed, was the greatest King ever if the common people had that much respect. That meant the young prince would just have to be better.

Soon the father and son came to the outskirts of the town. Before them sat lush plains and rolling valleys just perfect for looking at the beauty of nature. As Gohan examined his new surroundings, in other words watching a butterfly land on a small flower beside him, a man was running towards to royal pair with great speed, a dust cloud forming behind him. The man stopped just before crashing into them and bowed quickly. Gohan rolled his eyes watching the man rise on his father's command.

In front of him was the royal advisor; Hercule. The man was tall and fairly muscular; he had soft, ice blue eyes and an afro atop his head. Below that were bushy eyebrows, a moustache, and hairy arms. This man was hairy! But the reason Gohan was irritated by him was his secondary occupation as his guardian. It was great he had someone watching his back, but Hercule was the textbook example of a mother hen towards the prince. After he rose, Hercule announced the reason for his arrival.

"Good morning, sire!" he greeted. "Would you come with me? I'm here to give you the morning report."

Goku joined Hercule off to the side, keeping his eyes on Gohan while listening intently to the things the advisor was telling him. His son had taken to chasing the butterfly from before. Gohan would stalk up silently to it, and then as he pounced the small creature would make its escape into the sky. The King chuckled despite himself and flicked his glance back to Hercule who was, by this point, rambling before walking to his son.

"Whatcha doing, boy?" Gohan stiffened and turned to meet his father's eyes.

"Trying to catch this butterfly, daddy." The boy scowled as he missed once more.

"You want to learn how I used to do it?" Goku kneeled down to his son's level and looked at the boy's now shining eyes.

"Could you teach me?" The King nodded and began instruction.

"First things first, get low to the ground before creeping up to him." Gohan did as instructed. "Good. Now that you're close, get into a pouncing position and…"

--

While Hercule continued to ramble on about the going-ons of the kingdom another male had decided to make his presence known. A much smaller, bald man quickly ran beside Hercule; saluting before speaking.

"Hercule! Sir!" The afro-man turned to his accomplice with a confused glance before nodding slightly.

"The watch towers reported seeing something odd on the outskirts of the kingdom."

"Meaning?" Hercule replied. The bald-man whispered into his ear.

--

"Sire! They have returned! They've been spotted on the outskirts of the lands!"

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...And that's it. Now maybe you've realized the issue I've come across. Although this is a DBZ fic, I would prefer to stray away from the flying and super powers and saiyan stuff. But at the same time, I'm not sure how I would write the fight scenes. So here's what you, the reader, can do to help. Review me with your ideas and the ones I like the most will end up on a poll. Then everyone can vote for the most popular. If that doesn't happen then I'll wing it. Review please!


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